RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

a_chinn This was going to be the fourth film directed by Michael Reeves ("Witchfinder General," "The Sorcerers," "She Beast"), who's a filmmaker I'm fascinated by, mostly because of the three intriguing horror films he directed before his untimely death. None of these films were horror classics, but they were unique stories and were more of an edge than most horror films of this era. I was particularly taken with "Witchfinder General" where Vincent Price gave a rare non-hammy performance and was terrific. "The Oblong Box" would have again paired Price and Reeves, but sadly Reeves died due to an accidental overdose during pre-production. Veteran horror director Gordon Hessler took over and made the film more in line with the previous AIP Poe film adaptations, which isn't a bad thing, but it's disappointing to not see what Reeves would have brought to this cycle of films. In this Poe tale, Vincent Price's brother, Alister Williamson, is buried alive, and then reappears wearing a red mask, exacting his bloody revenge. Overall, this film is not as classy or smart as the Roger Corman Poe films, but it's entertaining none-the-less.

Prichards12345 The Oblong Box is one of Poe's milder effusions into horror; and this film, prepared with Michael Reeves in mind for Director, owes at least something in approach to his Witchfinder General. It owes virtually nothing to Poe other than the title. It's often surprisingly nasty by the standards of the time, but Gordon Hessler, who replaced Reeves after his untimely death, does a good job of making the film into a reasonably compelling narrative, even if he is a little too fond of extreme close-ups.The film is also marvellously photographed, and in this respect at least it harks back to Roger Corman's Poe films. Vincent Price gives an impressively restrained performance (probably influenced by the favourable reviews he received for a similar turn in Witchfinder) although his romance with Hilary Dwyer's character is a little improbable, given his age.What's more remarkable of course is the totty his mad brother manages to pull! A big nose and a bad case of acne is hardly a reason to turn into a deranged mask-wearing killer. Yet it doesn't seem to put off the females much (including Sally Geeson, no less). To quote Groucho Marx in A Night at The Opera of a sleeping Harpo: "He does better asleep than I do awake!"Christopher Lee lends sterling support to proceedings as a Doctor not above hiring body snatchers for his researches. As the film is set in the mid-Victorian era, this plot point seems rather anomalously late, as Doctors were able to procure bodies perfectly legally by then! Overall this is a pretty decent movie. It's not well thought of by most critics, though, so you may not like it as much as I did.

Scarecrow-88 Julian Markham's brother, Edward, is cursed by an African tribe with voodoo via hideous visage and he is held prisoner for his own good inside the family mansion. Julian(Vincent Price)attempted to save his brother who was kidnapped, nailed to a cross, and given the disfigurement through a ceremony for the accidental death of a child by the trampling of a horse. Edward(Alister Williamson)had negotiated with an associate of Julian's, Samuel Trench(Peter Arne)over being cured of his disfigurement through a witchdoctor, quietly put to sleep and buried alive by his brother, believing him to be dead. A scientist, Dr. J. Neuhartt(Christopher Lee), hired body snatchers to provide him with corpses for his research. One night the oblong box containing the body of Edward arrives to Neuhartt. Edward puts Neuhartt in a precarious position, knowing of his illegal activities, agreeing to keep mum about his secret in exchange for a place to stay. Edward even agrees to pay him, kind of a funding for his research. Edward becomes a pain in Neuhartt's ass when he starts getting revenge on Trench and others for his premature burial(Trench was supposed to recover him for he was paid handsomely to see that Edward "gets a new face"). Meanwhile, Julian has a courtship with Lady Elizabeth, trying to move on with his life after the supposed death of Edward. Edward, wearing a crimson cloak over his face, kills a conman's wife(pretending to be a prostitute as to rob unsuspecting johns of their money)which draws the attention of the bobbies, with Julian soon discovering that his brother is in fact still alive. Edward, through the work of the witchdoctor he finally finds through Trench, will understand just why he was cursed and this will only fuel his mania even further. Lesser Edgar Allan Poe adaptation utilizes great sets and locations in England. Price steps out of the villain role for a change, and his part isn't as conflicted or interesting. In actuality, Williamson, despite being hidden under the crimson cloak, is the character focused on in this particular film. Lee has a minor part as a doctor caught in the middle of a difficult situation, attached to body snatchers who rob graves for him and a psychotic madman who makes matters even worse. Interesting enough it takes a little while getting to Edward's release and subsequent revenge against those who left him to rot in the casket. Quite a fascinating conclusion in regards to Julian's reaction to Edward's bite and how he himself was inadvertently involved in his brother's devastating condition. As expected you finally get to see Edward's ghoulish face in a grand reveal. The film points out with its finale that you can not escape your responsibility for the death of a child, particularly if you leave the scene of the crime...eventually you must pay the piper, so to speak.

JohnHowardReid Despite triumphant placarding in the movie's posters, Edgar Allan Poe never wrote a story called "The Oblong Box". Poe did write a quasi-essay titled "The Premature Burial", which no doubt heavily influenced "Murder by the Clock" (1931), but has precious little to do with "The Oblong Box". Its real inspiration comes from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" via Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher". I'm gladly that neither of these fine writers were associated with this "ridiculous" (to quote Christopher Lee) movie. Just about all the characters are presented as a bunch of morons who not only act stupidly but totally inconsistently. Oddly, the actors all play their roles straight, even when entertaining the craziest of notions. As if this were not bad enough, the plot wanders all over the place. Potentially interesting threads are introduced, only to be quickly dropped in favor of some new, irrelevant sidelight. Director Gordon Hessler spends so much time setting up these extra scenes (like the tavern episode) that we grow weary of the whole charade long before the merciful end titles. [